Benzene reduction in gasoline range streams by adsorption processes using a PVDC–PVC carbon molecular sieve Georgina C. Laredo ⇑ , Jesus Castillo, Jose L. Cano Programa de Investigacion de Procesos de Transformacion, Instituto Mexicano del Petroleo, Lazaro Cardenas 152, Mexico 07730 DF, Mexico highlights  A PVDC carbon molecular sieve presented high selectivity for benzene adsorption.  The process can be used for benzene content reduction in gasoline feeds.  A one step direct procedure removed benzene along linear and branched parafﬁns.  A two step procedure removed linear parafﬁns before benzene adsorption.  Benzene and parafﬁns enriched fractions can be improved in separated processes. graphical abstract Bz H 2 CMS Bz Bz ISOMERIZATION article info Article history: Received 9 May 2014 Received in revised form 4 July 2014 Accepted 8 July 2014 Available online 19 July 2014 Keywords: Gasoline Benzene Adsorption Isomerization Reformation abstract A PVDC–PVC derived carbon molecular sieve (CMS-IMP12) was used for adsorbing the benzene contained in a sample of reforming gasoline from a Mexican Reﬁnery. First an oleﬁn free benzene enriched fraction (H-BHC) was obtained by distillation-hydrogenation. The adsorption process may be carried out in one and two-steps. In the one-step procedure, benzene was adsorbed along other hydrocarbons in a 28 mL/100g ads yield. The benzene enriched fraction (BEF) contained linear and branched parafﬁns and cycloparafﬁns (56%) and benzene (43%). In the two-step procedure, linear parafﬁns (PEF) were selectively separated from the H-BHC by 5A molecular sieve (7 mL/100g ads ). Then, the parafﬁns free fraction (PFF, 30 mL/100g ads ) was submitted to a further separation using the CMS material. The resulted adsorbed product (BEF, 42 mL/100g ads ) was formed mainly by iso- and cycloparafﬁns (50%) and benzene (48%). The octane number of the one-step was lower than the two-steps benzene free fraction (BFF) (67 and 76, respectively) due to the presence of parafﬁns in the ﬁrst one. In any case, the benzene may be recu- perated from the BEF by distillation and the octane number of the recovered PEF and BFF may be improved by any commercial isomerization process. Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Reduction of benzene content from distilled petroleum streams has become one of the most challenging processes in the last years. While benzene is a very valuable key input for the manufacture of basic products in chemical and petrochemical industries, its pres- ence in the gasoline pool needs to be minimized because of its known highly carcinogenic properties. Indeed, the Mobile Source Air Toxics Rule, published on February 26, 2007 by the Environmen- tal Protection Agency (EPA) in the USA, requires that reﬁners and importers produce gasoline that has an annual average benzene content of 0.62 volume percent (%) or less, beginning in 2011 [1,2]. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2014.07.014 0016-2361/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. ⇑ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: glaredo@imp.mx (G.C. Laredo), jcastill@imp.mx (J. Castillo), jlcano@imp.mx (J.L. Cano). Fuel 135 (2014) 459–467 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Fuel journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/fuel